


there's a bee?

by rainbowshoes



Series: witcher tumblr prompts [4]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Bees, Fluff, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27443515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowshoes/pseuds/rainbowshoes
Summary: i asked for prompts on tumblr and this is the answer to this one:"Always had a big headcanon that the witchers keep bees. Jaskier finding out that at Kaer Morhen he can have all the sweets he wants, and Eskel happily indulging him"
Relationships: Eskel/Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: witcher tumblr prompts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2004985
Comments: 2
Kudos: 86





	there's a bee?

**Author's Note:**

> cross posted from [my tumblr](https://shyglittercreature.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I researched beekeeping and watched like a whole hour on traditional skep beekeeping for this even tho i totally did not need to - bees are awesome??
> 
> [here's a link](https://youtu.be/hn5OxMXCSz8) to the thing I watched and if you like bees, it's honestly fucking fascinating 
> 
> title from [this vine](https://youtu.be/cMnDuK9cF1U) bc i am a troll

"Bees?" Jaskier asked, his fingers pausing on the lute strings so quickly they made a discordant sound. Eskel chuckled at Jaskier's grimace as he hastily covered the strings with his palm to stop the noise. "Like the kind that make honey or the kind that just like to burrow in wood?"

Eskel bent and reached for his saddlebag and spent a moment digging through it until he found the jar near the bottom wrapped in an old, torn shirt he'd never bothered to fix. He took the whole bundle from the bag and unwound the shirt, then, once the jar was free, took off the lid and offered it to Jaskier. 

Jaskier didn't take it. "Oh no, I'm not putting my fingers in there. I've been warned off mysterious jars and bottles in witcher's bags entirely too many times." Not that he'd _listened_ , Eskel knew. Geralt had told them about Jaskier finding the demijohn of White Gull - it made for an amusing story, mostly, right up to the part where Jaskier nearly fell down a flight of stairs and somehow managed to almost set the inn on fire. 

"It's honey," Eskel said with an amused smile. He dug his fingers into the jar and scooped out the hunk of comb, still solid white and now dripping with excess. He carefully broke off a small portion of it and held it out in offering. "We make it, up at Kaer Morhen." 

"You make it?" Jaskier asked, sounding mystified as he took the little piece. He nibbled at it like a delicacy and moaned. Eskel was a little grateful they were camping tonight. He'd hate to get dirty looks for Jaskier's obscenity _again_. "Fuck, that's amazing. I - you know, I don't know why it never really crossed my mind? Beekeeping is absolutely a thing that can be done. I suppose I never pictured a bunch of witchers doing it, though." He grinned, as if to take any unintended sting from the words. 

Eskel broke off a piece of the comb for himself as well, then set the jar aside. "Bees are pollinators, and we do have gardens and a few fruit trees. The growing season is a bit shorter up there, but the bees help. And lugging sugar up the mountain isn't really reasonable. Honey works as a good substitute in nearly everything, [including the bread](https://www.mymundaneandmiraculouslife.com/foodie-fridays-easy-peesy-french-bread/)." 

"I don't think I've ever made my own bread," Jaskier said idly. Eskel shook his head again. If Jaskier hadn't already told him about his title and everything else, that comment alone would have been a giant indicator. Only the reasonably wealthy could afford to hire someone else to make their bread - or buy it everyday. "You can make bread with honey? I've only ever put honey _on_ bread." 

"Tastes the same as any other bread," Eskel told him. Jaskier shut his eyes to savor the last tiny bite of his comb. "I don't bring much with me when I leave, but we have tons of it stocked up. It doesn't exactly go bad, not so long as we keep water out of it." 

Jaskier looked delighted. "I'll be perfectly honest, I was a little worried about what sort of food I'd have to eat this winter." Eskel huffed a soft laugh, and Jaskier leaned against his shoulder. "Laugh all you like, I have a sweet tooth to rival a higher vampire's thirst for blood."

"I'm aware." Eskel's tone was drier than the Frying Pan, and Jaskier's laughter sounded like bells. "What did you think, that you would have to eat nothing but unseasoned rabbits and squirrels spit roasted over a fire?" 

"It has been a pattern," Jaskier said wryly, indicating the remains of their dinner. "And I don't know shit all about cooking."

Eskel shook his head. "Carrying spices takes up too much space. That's extra weight we can't afford to haul around." Jaskier nodded because he did, actually, understand the value of traveling light. "The winter months are our break, our time to relax. Vesemir has to be over two hundred years old by now. Fuck knows he won't tell any of us just how old he really is. And [Geralt and I are almost a hundred](https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline/Netflix). With that many winters to our names, we've certainly learned to cook. Hell, even Lamb is almost sixty. There's a reason he's our _baby_ brother." Eskel grinned at Jaskier's delighted peal of laughter. "Don't tell Lambert I said it or I'll say you're lying, but he makes the best mead of all of us." 

"I can't wait to try it," Jaskier said, leaning a little more heavily against Eskel's shoulder. Eskel grabbed up the damp cloth they'd used earlier to get the grease from the rabbits off their hands and cleaned away the honey from his fingers before offering it to Jaskier and wrapping his arm around Jaskier's shoulders. "Can you make sweets?"

"I can," Eskel confirmed with a soft hum. "Several different things. There's a rotation for whoever gets stuck cooking each night, but I almost always make something sweet to go along with mine. Nearly all our fruit is preserved, but there's usually some fresh right when I make it to the keep each year. All depends on what we have and how well everything grew. And the bees."

"And the bees," Jaskier agreed, and Eskel could see the corner of his smile. "How long do we have left to travel again?" 

Eskel chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of Jaskier's head. "About two weeks if we keep going at the same pace, probably three if we stop for a few contracts along the way." Jaskier groaned. "We'd travel faster if you had a horse."

"And I've already told you," Jaskier began, pushing away to ready himself to go to sleep. Eskel did the same and couldn't quite hide his smile as Jaskier ranted at him about the economical hardship a horse was for someone like him - for someone who could carry his single bag and lute and who stayed close to cities or on the big roads and traveled with crowds unless he was with a witcher. Eskel let him talk - after so many years on the Path spent in silence, spent being perfectly polite to assholes who didn't deserve it, spent letting people get away with shorting him on payment for his jobs and _not getting angry_ so he didn't perpetuate the awful image of witchers, spent burying that little part of himself that died each time a person couldn't look him in the face because of his scar or stared at it far too much, spent alone… Jaskier's voice was the best damn sound he'd ever heard in his life. 

They settled their bedrolls beside one another and Eskel carefully banked the fire before settling down to sleep. Jaskier immediately rolled as close as he could get - still bitching about the price of oats and how much horses ate - and Eskel had to kiss him to make him stop. Jaskier grinned at him when he pulled away. 

"If you want to talk until you fall asleep, at least talk about something else," Eskel said, pressing another kiss to Jaskier's cheek before rolling to his back. He was completely unsurprised when Jaskier squirmed even closer and rested his head on his shoulder. Eskel simply wrapped his arm around Jaskier's back to keep him still and tugged Jaskier's blanket a little higher to keep him warm. It wasn't freezing at night, yet, but it was cold. 

Jaskier hummed. "Well, my love, what will it be tonight? A story? The history of Redania? A lesson on astronomy? The -"

"Tell me that one about [the woman in the tower and the hawk](http://users.clas.ufl.edu/jshoaf/Marie/)." Eskel settled a little, cast his eyes over to Scorpion once more, though he'd just checked on him a moment ago, looked around their campsite one final time, and finally up at the stars. The moon was waxing from a cresent toward a half-moon. With any luck, it would be full when they reached Kaer Morhen and the sky would be clear, and Eskel could take Jaskier up to the highest point with the best view. It would be nice. Peaceful. He shut his eyes. 

"You like that one," Jaskier teased gently. And then he began to speak. It was a long, rhyming tale Jaskier had memorized. And yes, Eskel did like it. He liked the way Jaskier told it even better.

* * *

The skeps were kept up off the ground in a little shelter in rows of two. Eskel had already gone out to smoke them before he'd brought Jaskier - he wasn't worried about himself, but he knew too many bee stings for a human could be dangerous. Now the few that still flew about were lazy and slow. At least Jaskier didn't seem afraid of them. 

"Want to see inside?" Eskel asked. 

"Absolutely."

Jaskier's hunger for knowledge was something Eskel appreciated, even if he tended to go overboard sometimes - including tagging along on far-too-dangerous hunts when he'd been told to stay behind. He led Jaskier closer to the skeps and carefully tipped one of them to its side and then upside down. Jaskier looked delighted by the sight of all the bees crawling around on their combs. Eskel began to explain a little how they maintained the skeps - how Vesemir was the one who did all the work moving them around where the bees were needed and where they could get the most food. He pointed out the drone cells and queen cells, how they had to save all the queens they could to build the nests back up after they harvested the honey and combs, and how they used most of the combs to make wax. 

Jaskier was nearly buzzing himself with the new information, and Eskel promised he would let Jaskier help when it was time to start processing all the combs Vesemir had already collected. Eskel righted the skep and led Jaskier down a path to a different little hutch where there weren't any skeps for the winter. They wandered a little more until the light began to fade, Eskel showing Jaskier where a few natural hives had been built, and then they headed back to the keep. 

Eskel had made it a point to arrive at Kaer Morhen a bit earlier than usual, so it was just him and Jaskier and Vesemir at supper. Eskel had roped Jaskier into helping - mostly he just stood there and passed Eskel things, but he'd paid attention as Eskel explained what he was doing as he cooked. Jaskier rushed through his meal, mostly, though he seemed to savor each bite of bread layered in butter and practically dripping honey. 

As soon as Eskel set down his fork, Jaskier sat upright. "Is it time for dessert?" He grinned widely across the table at Vesemir's snort. "I was promised [apple custard](https://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~lwittie/sca/food/dessert.html)!" 

Eskel smiled just a little. "So you were." He stood and went to retrieve the custard - Jaskier had helped him make it, even, though he hadn't been much help. The supply of fresh fruit would expire rapidly anyway, so it was best to use it before it rotted. When he returned to the table in the hall, he set the custard in the middle of the table between the three of them and began cutting it. He heaped a large portion on Jaskier's plate and gave himself a slightly smaller piece. Vesemir had an even smaller piece - he always ate a little of whatever Eskel happened to make, but never much. 

Jaskier eagerly dug his fork into the custard and shoved it into his mouth. He made another one of his obscene moans - to which Vesemir very nearly rolled his eyes - and immediately took up another forkfull. "Sweet Melitele, Eskel, this is positively divine!" He grinned and shoved his second bite into his mouth, rocking back a little and humming, clearly pleased. 

"I'm glad you're enjoying it," Eskel said wryly. "Now I know how to convince you to do something, anyway." He chuckled at Jaskier's little outraged squawk of protest. "I'll just promise you sweets if you do whatever it is." 

Jaskier pouted a little, but it was clear he was waffling about actually disagreeing with this plan. He pointed his fork at Eskel for a moment, then stabbed it into his custard and took another large bite. He seemed to think it over as he ate his mouthful. "It has to be something you made," he said at last. "And it has to be actually sweet. Some ridiculous vegetable with sugar or something doesn't count. And! It can't be blackmail." 

"I wouldn't do that anyway," Eskel said with a huff. "But I can agree to those terms." It would be difficult on the Path, certainly, since he didn't have a kitchen of his own, but he was sure he could find some way to make it work. He had clearly underestimated just how much Jaskier enjoyed sweets.

He wouldn't make that mistake a second time, and he would indulge him for the entire winter. It certainly wasn't a hardship.

**Author's Note:**

> The reference to the story Jaskier tells is "Yonec" by Marie de France bc i am a slut for medieval literature. I used to make the bread recipe I linked, back at a time when I could eat bread, and its very easy and very yummy. (I cant get it to work with gluten free flour at high altitude, tho.) The link for 'apple custard' is basically just a list of desserts they made during medieval times, not a recipe, unfortunately. Idk about the netflix canon of ages but thats what im goin with for this fic and who cares anyway. The book canon doesn't offer a better alternative. (Im just now starting Baptism of Fire and i know only as much about the games as ive been able to google even if i own witcher 3 - i just dont have the time to play it... yet.)


End file.
